The story so far
Our under-23s will be hoping to build on a promising start to the season by grabbing all three points against Leicester City, who visit Meadow Park on Friday night.
Steve Gatting’s side have won three games from four and beat Manchester United 2-0 away from home in our previous fixture, with PL 2 Player of the Month Reiss Nelson and Josh Dasilva scoring a pair of free-kicks.
We are currently second in the table, just three points off leaders Liverpool and two ahead of Everton, West Ham and Leicester.
The opposition
Leicester have enjoyed a mixed start to the season, losing their opening fixture with Manchester United, drawing at Manchester City and picking up victories against both Everton and West Ham.
First-team squad members Kelechi Iheanacho, Robert Huth and Vincente Iborra all featured in their previous game, the win against West Ham, with the former and the latter both getting on the scoresheet.
One to watch
Having buried a fine free-kick against Man United, the versatile Dasilva, who is naturally a box-to-box midfielder, will be keen to continue his strong start to the campaign, which has also seen him claim three assists.
The 18-year-old broke into our under-23s side at the tail end of last season and is set to see more action under Gatting, who has utilised him at left-back, with Cohen Bramall and Marc Bola having departed the club on loan to Birmingham City and Bristol Rovers respectively.
Josh was also part of the England side which won the European Under-19 Championship over the summer, featuring in a midfield role.
Last time we met
We fell to a 2-1 defeat in our last game against Leicester, at Holmes Park, with Ben Sheaf scoring late on in the tie.
Danny Welbeck started up front for Gatting’s side, flanked by Chris Willock and Vlad Dragomir.
The hosts took the lead after 20 minutes, with Josh Knight nodding in from close range, and shortly following the half-time interval, they added a second through Layton Ndukwu.
Sheaf scored just before full-time, but it proved to be too late as we searched for an equaliser.
Follow the action
We’ll be providing live updates on the action from Meadow Park on out Twitter account - @Arsenal.
Kick-off is at 7pm (UK time).
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